2 heart transplants later, Compton living dream at U.S. Open

At 30, he finally qualified to tee it up Thursday at Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — — The low point came in 2008, with Erik Compton clinging to life after a heart attack necessitated a second heart transplant.

Compton sold all of his golf equipment and said he had "pretty much come to grips" with the idea that he'd never again compete at the highest levels.

Peter Compton feared much worse, worried his son would not survive the 14-hour procedure at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. But Erik did, and to boost his spirits in the intensive-care unit, Peter read him golf magazines.

"He has never been a father who's tried to tell me how to swing a club," Erik said. "But he's always had a vision."

That vision will come into focus Thursday at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Erik will tee off on No. 10 at 4:31 p.m. Chicago time, his first drive in a major championship following an incredible story of determination.

"From very, very early on," Peter said, "he has shown his tenacity and his willingness to really continue to live a life."

Said Erik's wife, Barbara: "He keeps going. He's not a quitter."

Erik has proved that so many times. He received a transplant at age 12 after a virus weakened his heart. That all but ended his promising baseball and football careers, steering him toward golf.

"I think my body was stunted quite a bit from the medications I've taken all my life," said Compton, 30, who carries 150 pounds on his 5-foot-8 frame. "I wasn't much of a scholar or somebody who would sit and read a book. I was always outside, creating my own sports. I loved to be competitive."

Compton starred at the University of Georgia and has won three times on the Canadian Tour. But he has never cracked the top 25 for a PGA Tour event or qualified for a U.S. Open despite trying nearly every year "since I was 15 or 16."

One year, while trying to qualify in Maryland, Compton made it to a playoff — 12 players for one spot. He recalls making birdies on the first and second playoff holes, but not even that was enough to land what Compton calls the "Willy Wonka golden ticket."

Fast-forward to June 6, the final round of the Memorial. Compton followed rounds of 73-72-72 with a horrific 82 and was so dejected, he considered blowing off his U.S. Open sectional qualifier the next day.

Why bother, he wondered, given how the transplants have robbed him of endurance and length off the tee. Instead he shot 69-66 in Springfield, Ohio, and survived a three-hole, three-man playoff.

"I was outside on the patio, heard the phone ring and heard (wife Eli) start to scream," Peter recalled. "I knew it was either very good news or very bad news."

That great bit of news led Erik to play a Monday practice round at Pebble Beach with tour regulars Nick Watney and Ben Crane, followed by instructors Jim McLean and Butch Harmon.